


Returning the Favor

by Control_Room



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gift Fic, Happy Ending, Hugs, Kisses, Love, Most Mercs are Background, Revenge, Violence, Worry, cross faction, mild depictions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 21:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30146187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room
Summary: Engineer finds himself in a situation he can't build his way out of.
Relationships: Engineer/Spy (Team Fortress 2)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	Returning the Favor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lord_pilot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lord_pilot/gifts).
  * Inspired by [practical espionage (engiespy week 2021).](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29924352) by [lord_pilot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lord_pilot/pseuds/lord_pilot). 



“You failed!” the words in his earpiece are not shocking, but jarring nonetheless. Dell does not dwell on them though, no siree, he has no time for that. Right now, he needs to run and hide. Normally, during the humiliation round, he would just grin and bear it, the critical hits usually sending him to RED’s base within a few moments. Unlike bigger and tougher classes, his healthpool made it a little harder for him to stick around long, and his speed also impeded that, so running was not an option for him at the moment. He could only hide. And he had to do so, fast.

The day started normal enough, everyone groaning when they heard that the payload of the day would be High Tower. That usually meant a full day of no one capping and everyone going home sore and scowling from the vitriol spat upon them by the administrator and Pauling’s disappointment in their performance. Not Engineer, though. He almost smiled, giddy, as he had thought up a little plan that he had waited to put into action for a long time. 

He snuck out of spawn as stealthily as he could, carrying a teleporter exit alone. Most of the time, Engineers chose to sit out of this map, shooting the breeze and practicing guitar. Not this time. Sneaking up to the top was only impeded once by a pyro playing piano, but Engineer managed to make his way around them easily enough, after what felt like hours. Both teams managed to get the payloads to the base of the towers, but neither could capture them. It was normal. Engineer inhaled and leapt off, and landed with a crunch on the cart. Everyone stared at him, and then a cleaver drove right between his eyes. It did not kill him, the slight healing from the cart removing it and slowly mending the red pulsing. He let himself be killed, and then, when he respawned, so did Soldier. He grabbed the man by the shoulder with a wide grin. 

“Sol. Get yer pain train,” he told him. 

Then they were at the top, the entrance teleporter already destroyed by the other team. 

Engineer grinned at the Soldier, and jumped down. Soldier followed, and his jaw was slack as they landed together on the payload. 

No one took them seriously, at first, until they noticed that the payload was moving at another point faster than it should. Then the panic set in. No one capped High Tower. It just was not something that people did. Engineer cracked open a beer with a laugh and handed one to Soldier, and they clinked their glasses together as they rode to the top. The enemy demo was following up after them, though, as Soldier told him what was happening, and he was laughing just as much as they were. Engineer warned him about the sentry on top, so he avoided going all the way up, and waved as they tipped over the point. 

BLU was mad. 

Oh, they were pissed. 

However, Spy admired the play, especially as even he himself had not realized what was happening, due to the Engineer being so reclusive during the whole round. 

His team had put pressure on him to keep an eye on the Engineer for the next match, and they all fought like bloodhounds. Engineer still was a slippery son of a bitch, so they could not kill him every time they wanted to. So they decided instead of focusing on that nut job, to actually win the round. 

Despite RED trying their best, the absolute hilariousness of actually capping High Tower definitely had an impact on their performance, making it wave up and down, keeping them pushed at halfway and favoring BLU, inching closer and closer to victory. 

When they won, Engineer hid. He prayed to not be found, because this was the start of the weekend, and he knew that they would not leave him be until the end of the day. He trembled in his boots, though he tried his best not to show his fear, a bead of sweat sliding down his temple. 

“Hey, hardhat! Catch this!”

Engineer did not duck in time to prevent the baseball from hitting the back of his head, and hard. Stumbling forward, he gasped in the pain, and could do nothing as a large hand picked him off the ground by the back of his overalls. His wrench, in his hand, jerked up on instinct to take him to spawn, but the BLU soldier slapped it out of his hold while it was still loose, even the gunslinger’s literally iron grip failing him then. 

He inhaled and readied himself for his larynx getting crushed by the madman’s hold, but it did not happen that way. No, he was held up like a cat by its scruff, and carried out by the enemy soldier, the scout grinning at him maniacally. 

“You know, pally, I don’t like people cappin’ the point, especially if they ain’t someone  _ meant _ to cap,” Scout told him nonchalantly. Engineer gulped, rough. “Soldier here wasn’t too happy about it either. Come to think of it, no one really was. So, we’ve decided to have a lil’ chat with you!”

Soldier grunted, and hissed under his breath, “A nice talk. With my boot kicking your ass.”

Engineer rarely was inside BLU spawn, not even during humiliation rounds. He usually was too far away from those locations, but this time, he was going there whether he wanted to or not. 

His head pulsed again as he hit a locker after getting tossed inside. Immediately Soldier made true on his words, and Engineer knew that he was going to be standing over his work bench instead of sitting for at least a few days. Maybe something in his hip broke. Scout’s bat smacked over his back, and he curled up in pain, biting back a whimper. The Heavy, who had been seemingly waiting, looked down at him, and picked him up by his shirt, which already was rumpled and out of place. There was a punch, and Engineer saw stars. There was certainly a black eye under his goggles, now. Engineer tried not to scream as they beat him, none allowing each other nor themselves to kill him, and the BLU medic, clearly hosting some animosity towards him, likely a connection to his own medic, also came in, though Engineer was already delirious from the pain and could hardly tell what was happening. 

He thought they would let him go after they kicked his ass, literally and otherwise, but that was not the case. He was dragged to the Sniper’s room, which he knew was more a storage room at this point thanks to the man living in his camper. Said assassin only looked down at the exhausted builder and turned away, their mutual respect too strong to break. They lashed him to a chair, and after spending a bit more time abusing his mettle, they abandoned him to go eat. His stomach rumbled as the smell reached him, a reminder that he had only had that one solitary beer that day. He had promised Spy that he would try to drink less, but he found that with drinking less, he lost quite a bit of weight even though it had only been a few weeks of tentative dating and dieting. 

He had not seen Spy, yet. The man’s after work routine was usually evasive, and the texan’s heart sank when he realized that he was similar, and that his team would not be likely to look for him, unless Pyro found that he was not in his workshop, but there would be no worry ‘til monday would come, and that was a long time. 

He eventually passed out from the pains, the hunger, and the worry gnawing at his chest. 

The next day moved both slowly and quickly, as being used as a human punching bag kept his mind in a strange half reality where time stood still and all shifted in the blink of an eye. The enemy soldier took extra pleasure in criticizing the poor mechanic, untying him to watch him try to run and then hitting him back, slower in running, but faster and stronger in power. The Engineer tripped in one of those sprints, even knowing it was futile, and he gasped as he hit the floor. 

“You’re weaker than you look, maggot, and that is saying a- LOT!” Soldier half laughed, half barked. Dell cringed on the ground as he tried to get up again, but a boot pressed onto the bruise of Scout’s back, forcing him back slowly. “Ha.”

Dell’s jaw clenched, and he was about to sneer something in return, but then a sudden pain grew everywhere, sprouting out of the back of his hand and spreading to the whole of his body like an electric current, because that was exactly what it was.

Soldier stepped off the gunslinger after grinding downwards with his heel, Engineer gasping and wheezing from the agony. 

Then he turned around and left, the engineer pitifully weeping in complete silence. 

***

Spy’s weekends were not to be disturbed. To his relief, their team’s medic actually did get his birds relatively under control, and admitted that he sent some to look for him. It made him feel a little better that they did care that he was missing, Pyro giving him a big hug and showing him to his mercenary bedroom (which he did not use) with a banner welcoming him back. The others were a bit awkward regarding his return still, but as he grew more relaxed (no thanks to a certain laborer) they did as well, opening up to him and he opening, ever so slightly, in response. He ribbed Medic that he seemed to be more likeable than either of them had previously thought, and Medic replied that that was a good thing, and a rather new development. He then asked him if he was seeing anyone, and Spy had barely deflected that thanks to his many years of training. Spy scoffed that it was his own natural charisma slowly growing. 

He was happier. 

It was easier to be happy when he had someone to spoil. Scout was easy to please, but he never showed the surprise that Spy loved to see on people’s faces when presenting them with a gift. The runner always made some remark that it was about time, and that was infuriating. 

Yet, Engie, he always was surprised, and if not surprised, he showed so much gratitude. Spy thought that it should be the other way around, flattered nonetheless.

He adored the man. So sweet and kind. He always had something wise to say. 

It made Spy’s heart flutter, even if he would deny having one. 

Strolling into the mess hall, quite suiting its name, Soldier patted his shoulder and grinned at him, wide and toothy. 

“Today is your lucky day, frenchie!” he informed him. “Want to teach a RED maggot a lesson? It’s one that’s one of your favorite targets!”

Spy’s mind jumped to the RED medic. He tried his best not to smile, but good god, he wanted to cut the man’s head off with a butterknife, or better yet, a screwdriver. 

“But of course,” Spy agreed, as his usual no fighting on the weekend mentality could be restrained for such a prime opportunity for deliciously cold revenge. “Lead the way.”

His slight smile vanished as the door to Sniper’s room opened. 

The red shirt of the engineer’s shirt was even redder from blood. The man looked up at him, his face screwed in pain, a hairline fissure in his goggles. 

“Thank you, Soldier,” Spy remarked, stepping within, hiding the horror in his eyes. “You may go. I will have my way with him, and I would like to take him to my own personal interrogation chamber, if that is alright with you.”

“Do whatever you’d like!” Soldier replied to him with maddening happiness. “I think I’ve had enough of whooping his sorry ass. Scout had a fine time, too. I made sure that he didn’t give the little weasel a concussion, though.”

Spy felt sick to his stomach. Some partner he was. 

As soon as Soldier left, Spy dropped to his knees to help Engie up, whispering that he was sorry the whole while, helping him to his own room, where no one would look for them or find them. 

Setting the man gently on his bed, he kissed his forehead, tasting sweat on his lips. Engineer moaned from the aches in his body, and he managed to groan out a word of thanks. 

Spy assured him that he would be right back, told him where the bathroom was, and then ran to the kitchen, glad to see Heavy there. 

“You would not happen to have a bar of chocolate on you, my friend?” he asked him casually. Heavy put down the novel he was reading and reached over to his personal cabinet, and gave one to the spy. “Ah, perfect. Merci, I had found myself craving some lately. Perhaps it is one of my exes hexing me.”

“That is an interesting theory,” Heavy chuckled. “Though I’m sure Medic would disagree.” 

Spy left shortly after, trying to hide his worry. Engineer was curled up on his bed, and he could care less about the blood getting onto his sheets. He gave him the chocolate and worried about how else to heal him up. He was not good at field medicine, and Engie needed help, help he could not give. 

“Do you want me to take you to your team?” he asked him quietly. Engineer shook his head; “I don’t want you to get hurt, sweetheart.”

“Please, I am a spy, they wouldn’t even see me, mon cher,” he insisted, looking over the bruises. There were so many… his teammates clearly stuck to blunt hurt to make it last longer. “I am taking you to your team.”

“How?” Engineer croaked, his throat raw. Spy looked out the window, and his eyes fell on a truck. 

“I have an idea.”

***

Thanks to the engineers having the same key for their vehicles, they were able to sneak over and commandeer it. Spy had Engineer lay in the back seat, covered with a soft blanket, and eventually he drove him home. He disguised himself as the RED Spy after checking if he was in a visible area, and brought Engineer inside. He did not look at Medic as he healed him, perhaps from fear. 

Still, he drove home after, still worried. The worry carried to the battlefield, and he snuck to his nest as soon as the battle began. 

Engie looked completely better, to Spy’s relief. He rushed over to him, took his hand with their signal, and pulled him around the corner, pulling him close and kissing him. 

Engineer smiled against his lips, and gently kissed back. 


End file.
